Muslims throughout the world participate in daily prayers five times a day. The timing for these prayers are spaced fairly evenly so that an individual is reminded of God and given an opportunity to seek God's guidance and forgiveness. The followers of Islam are generally called to face Mecca during such prayers.
In Arabic countries, hotel rooms and in some public rooms an arrow that points in the direction of Mecca is displayed. However, an increase in international business and travel has led to a need for an improved method and apparatus for displaying the direction of Mecca.
There have been a number of prior art patents directed to methods and devices for indicating the direction to a predetermined locale. For example, a U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,052 of Wakim. As disclosed therein, a direction indicating device with an azimuth card which is positioned upon a compass. The card is provided with a number of indicia marks corresponding to specific geographic locations. An adjustable straight-line cursor is positioned to be aligned with an indicia marking corresponding to the geographic location at which the device is being used and with the pivot point of the compass magnetic needle such that when the compass magnetic needle is pointing to magnetic North, the straight-line cursor will indicate the true direction of the predetermined locale from that specific geographic location.
A more recent U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,381 of Bornand et al., discloses a Method for Taking Directions and Timepiece Intended to Make Use of This Method. As disclosed, in the method for providing direction the longitude of the place where one is situated on the surface of the earth is determined by comparing the local time with the time of a reference time zone, and the latitude of the place where on is situated is determined by measuring the inclination of the earth's magnetic field in relation to the horizontal.
Finally, a U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,813 of Deworetzki, discloses a Navigation System for Supplementary Representation of Directional Information. The system relates to a navigation system for a land vehicle having a measuring arrangement for supplying position, direction and/or distance data, having a data source arrangement for supplying navigation data, having an input arrangement at least for inputting a destination, having a control arrangement at least for determining a route, and having at least one display apparatus for outputting navigation instructions. To free the driver from other actions diverting his attention from the traffic, the control arrangement determines a direction from the calculated position of the land vehicle and a stored position for a prescribed place. The display apparatus additionally displays the direction ascertained by the control arrangement.
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there is a current need and a potential market for an improved method and apparatus for displaying the directing of Mecca in accordance with the present invention.